PROVEN | Week 1 | Sermon · Rewind

Pastor Daniel Goulding · Jun 24, 2024 · 45 min watch · 2 min read

PROVEN | Week 1 | Sermon

Big Idea

Quoting the message: Jesus is God, not a guru, end quote. — and that distinction is everything when life doesn't go the way you expected.

When the gap between what we expect and what we experience produces doubt, our response depends entirely on who we believe Jesus is. If He is merely a spiritual guru or good teacher, unmet expectations will drive us away from Him. But if Jesus is truly God — as proven by fulfilled prophecy, witnessed miracles, and transformed lives — then even in the darkest seasons we can look for what He is doing, lean into Him rather than run away, and rest in the truth that His ways are higher than ours. Matthew 11 shows that doubt is not disqualifying; what matters is where we take it.

Key points

1
1John the Baptist's imprisonment illustrates that even the most faithful can reach a crisis of faith when circumstances don't match expectations.
2
2Jesus points to eyewitness evidence of His miracles as a reminder to look for what God is doing rather than fixating on what He seems not to be doing.
3
3Over 300 Old Testament prophecies provide objective evidence that Jesus is the Messiah — a foundation that holds even when our feelings do not.
4
4We must learn to fall forward — leaning into God in hard seasons — rather than allowing suffering to push us away from Him.
5
5Jesus publicly honored John the Baptist's doubt as a human moment, not a failure, showing that God meets us with compassion, not condemnation, when we bring Him our questions.
6
6God's ways are higher than ours, and trusting Him does not require understanding His full plan — it requires knowing His character.

Application

Pastor Daniel frames the takeaway around three practical responses to seasons when life doesn't match our expectations. First, actively look for what God is doing — fight spiritual amnesia by writing down His faithfulness so you have something to return to when doubt rises. Second, fall forward rather than away — develop the discipline of a first responder who runs toward the hard thing, leaning into God precisely when every instinct says to pull back. Third, release the need to understand everything — anchor your trust in the character of God rather than the clarity of your circumstances, resting in the truth that His ways are higher than yours. Doubt is not disqualifying; bringing it to Jesus, as John the Baptist did, is exactly the right move.

Take it into your week

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Scripture in this message

From the transcript
“So if you brought a Bible, which I hope you did, open them up to Matthew chapter 11. We're gonna look at kind of the tail end of this section where John the Baptist is going to ask the question”
From the transcript
“Here's the question, verse three, Are you the Messiah that we've been Notice the word he uses, that we've been expecting or should we look for someone else? Should we keep looking for someone else”
From the transcript
“And then in Matthew 11, it turns to this encounter with John the Baptist who's sitting in prison”
From the transcript
“Look at Jesus' answer to John the Baptist when asked the question, are you actually the Messiah? Verse four, Jesus told him, go back to John and tell him what you have heard and seen”
From the transcript
“right here in Matthew 11, he quotes from Isaiah chapter 41. He tells him, remember that the dead have come back to life. The blind can see, the deaf can hear, the lame can walk”
From the transcript
“I know one of the prophecies for sure that John the Baptist must have been thinking about sitting in prison is in Isaiah chapter 61. It says specifically that the savior, the Messiah, that when he comes, he will set the prisoners free”
From the transcript
“If you look at the next verse in verse six, Jesus says, and he added, Jesus added this, God blesses those who do not fall away because of me”
From the transcript
“It says in verse seven, as John disciples were leaving, Jesus began talking about him to the crowds. So Jesus literally starts to talk behind his back and look at what he says”
From the transcript
“Isaiah chapter 55 reminds us very plainly that my thoughts, they're nothing like your thoughts says the Lord. For my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts”
From the transcript
“it sounds a little dramatic, but in John chapter six, there's a story where Jesus, the disciples start to realize the incredibly high bar that Jesus has set. And a lot of them start to walk away. And Jesus looks at his closest disciples and says, Are you guys gonna walk away too”

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7-day devotional

A personal reading plan from this message — scripture, reflection, and prayer for each day.

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John the Baptist is sitting in a prison cell. This is the same man who leaped in his mother's womb when Mary walked through the door, who baptized Jesus in the Jordan, who stood in the wilderness and declared, 'He is coming.' And now he sends word asking, essentially, 'Are you really the one?' It's a disorienting picture. We might expect that the closer someone is to Jesus, the more immune they are to doubt. But Matthew 11 gently dismantles that assumption. John's crisis wasn't a sign that his faith was fake — it was a sign that he was human. His circumstances had created a gap between what he expected the Messiah to do and what was actually happening around him. That gap produced a question he could no longer ignore. What's striking is what John did with the question. He didn't spiral in silence. He didn't walk away. He sent word directly to Jesus. That small detail carries enormous weight. Doubt, in John's story, becomes the very thing that drives him back toward the source. Pastor Daniel reminded us that doubt is not disqualifying — what matters is where we take it. If you find yourself in a season where the gap between expectation and experience feels too wide, you're in good company. And you're being invited to do exactly what John did: bring it to Jesus.

For reflection

What expectation or unanswered prayer is quietly creating distance between you and Jesus right now?

Pray

Pray honestly about the gap you're feeling — name it to God the way John named his doubt, without dressing it up.

Made by Rewind AI from the sermon transcript. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

Small-group discussion guide

For leading a group conversation about this message.

Open

This message takes an honest look at what happens when life doesn't match what we expected from God — and what John the Baptist's crisis of faith in prison can teach us about where to take our doubts.

Discussion questions

1
In Matthew 11:2-3, John the Baptist — the man Jesus later calls the greatest born of women — sends his disciples to ask, 'Are you the Messiah we've been expecting, or should we keep looking?' What does it tell us about doubt that someone this close to Jesus could reach that point?
2
When John's disciples bring the question, Jesus responds in Matthew 11:4-5 by pointing to what they can see and hear — healings, restored sight, the good news reaching the poor. Why do you think Jesus answers doubt with eyewitness evidence rather than a direct 'yes, I am He'?
3
Pastor Daniel pointed to more than 300 fulfilled Old Testament prophecies as evidence that Jesus is who He claimed to be — a foundation that doesn't shift with our feelings. How might that kind of objective anchor function differently than personal experience when people are in a dark season?
4
After John's messengers leave, Jesus turns to the crowd and publicly honors John — calling him the greatest born of women — rather than correcting him for doubting. What does that response suggest about how God receives the doubts we bring to Him?
5
Pastor Daniel described two directions people can move when suffering hits: falling away from God or falling forward toward Him. What makes falling forward feel counterintuitive, and what might help someone move that direction when every instinct says to pull back?
6
Isaiah 55:8-9 reminds us that God's ways and thoughts are higher than ours. Pastor Daniel connected this to releasing the need to understand everything and anchoring trust in God's character rather than the clarity of our circumstances. What's the difference between trusting God's character and simply hoping things will work out?

Pray together

Gratitude that doubt is not disqualifying — and courage to bring our honest questions to Jesus rather than away from Him

Made by Rewind AI from the sermon transcript. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

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PROVEN

Week 1 · 4 messages

Where these passages are preached

Matthew 11 Isaiah 41 Isaiah 61 Isaiah 55

Explore related topics

Doubt and Faith God's Faithfulness Jesus as God Leaning Into God Unmet Expectations

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